Of Green-Eyed Baristas
by Queen What's-Her-Face
Summary: A story of how Percy and Annabeth could have met if, that is, they were mortal and liked to work/read at a really cool (if I do say so myself) coffee lounge.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone!**

 **This is something I wrote because I love the idea of Percy Being a barista.**

 **Yeah...**

* * *

 _Hmmmmm…_ Annabeth looked back down at her book, sipping her vanilla soy latté.

"Oh my Gods, Jason," The green-eyed barista whisper/shouted at the guy at the register, "She looked at me!"

Furrowing her eyebrows, Annabeth placed her oversized, red mug down, and looked at the barista again. She wasn't really one for subtly, so she quizzically stared openly at the young man.

"Oh Gods, She's looking at me _again_ ," He spun around, running his hands through his hair.

"Keep it together, man," the blond ( _Jason was it?_ Annabeth thought) chuckled, moving to the espresso machine and compressing the _robusta_ coffee beans in the tamper and twisted it onto the machine.

 _He has a nice nose. And dimples,_ Annabeth pondered, tapping her bock on her chin. A ridiculous little smile crept onto her face.

She shook her head, _keep it together Annabeth._

 _Keep it together._

Placing her book down, Annabeth reached for her ceramic mug.

Once could say that it was that Annabeth miscalculated the distance between her hand and the mug, another might say that the green-eyed barista unwittingly chose that exact moment to nervously smile at her, and Annabeth didn't know which assumption was worse. All that mattered was that the mug went toppling over the side of the coffee table, and subsequently, the remainder of Annabeth's latté splayed across the beautifully polished mahogany floors.

* * *

Percy couldn't believe his luck. The girl with the book, the absolutely beautiful grey-eyed girl, broke a one-of-a-kind mug all over the floor that Piper had just polished that morning. Hazel, who had just a moment ago tied on her black apron and started her shift, sighed and said, "I'll get that."

"No wait," Percy blurted out, reaching his hand to grab the mop that Hazel picked up. "I-erm-I mean I'll clean it up, you can finish this triple-shot-blackberry-iced-mocha for the lady at the window bar?" He asked hopefully, whipping out his baby seal eyes. Hazel raised one perfectly arched eyebrow, tucking a curly strand of hair behind her left ear, "Sure, Percy. Sure."

Percy grinned and grabbed the mop, and timidly sauntered, if that was even possible, to the plush, velvet chaise lounge.

* * *

As Percy strutted of with the air of someone who feared rejection, Hazel leaned over to Jason and muttered, "Someone's smitten."

Almost as if she were waiting for those exact words, Piper's head, and the rest of her body, shot out of the back room. "Who's smitten? What?" She stammered, throwing the soggy dish towel on the back counter and ran between Jason and Hazel. "Not that I care," she cleared her throat, "Of course."

However everyone at the coffee lounge knew that Piper had a fondness for romance deep, deep down inside. Tugging on one of Piper's braids, Jason said, "Percy's infatuated with the girl, over there, the one who spilt her drink."

"Which is why," Hazel interrupted, "He was so willing to mop up the mess."

"Maybe we could invite her back and ask her to spill a few more drinks, maybe on the shelves with the travel mugs," Piper mused, "So that way Percy might actually clean on a regular basis."

Hazel smiled at that and said, "We should get back to work. Mystery Girl will figure something out if we're all staring at them."

Although she made an excellent point, no one,-not Jason, not Hazel, and not even Piper-could move from the front counter.

* * *

Annabeth's pulse quickened. The green-eyed barista walked over to her with a mop and a funny expression. _Well this is just great. He's going to think I'm gauche-socially awkward, that is-which is definitely NOT the first impression I was going for._ Putting the palm of her hand to her forehead, Annabeth collected her thoughts as he walked over, and knelt down next to her. "Are you okay?" He asked and started to gather up the shards of the ceramic mug.

"Oh yes, quite. I suspect that you should be much more worried about your floor…" Annabeth gave a small smile.

He smiled again, and said, looking directly at her, "Oh no, these floors have seem much worse. I, on the other hand, have never seen anything better."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

Percy froze.

"What?" She bit her lip, her smile growing.

"I mean…Gods I'm an idiot. You know-I just-you're beautiful?"

The girl laughed. And it was a magnificent sound. "My name is Annabeth," She said sticking out her hand.

"I'm Percy," he grinned and shook it.

"I KNEW IT!" a very excited, very aggressive Cherokee girl banged her fist on the front counter. Percy turned around quickly and jerked his finger across his neck, eyes panicked. "OH, SORRY!" she smiled and waved at Annabeth, "PLEASE EXCUSE PERCY'S AKWARDNESS, AND THANK YOU FOR MOTIVATING HIM TO PICK UP A MOP!"

Percy groaned, squeezing his eyes shut, and ran his hand down his face. "Please ignore Piper," he pursed his lips. Risking a look at…Annabeth, Percy timidly opened one eye. Annabeth was laughing, and large, grey eyes twinkled.

"You're a bit of a Seaweed Brain, aren't you?" Annabeth asked, her laugh dying into a chuckle, and then into a contented sigh.

"Is that a good thing?" Percy asked, raising both his eyebrows and his shoulders.

"Yeah Percy," Annabeth decided that, despite her vast vocabulary, his name had by far the best cadence, "I think it is."

* * *

 **Okay! So that was my attempt at a fluffy story/thing.**

 **Please let me know if you liked it, hated it, or really liked it (I'm hoping you choose option 3, _but_ everyone has their own opinion so...I value your opinions!)**

 **Until next time :)**


	2. Epilogue

_**Hey everyone!**_

 _ **I know that this was supposed to be a one time thing/story, but a few people had started following so I decided to write one more chapter. I hope you enjoy!**_

 ** _I don't own the characters, I should probably mention?_**

* * *

Tap-tap-tap. Percy tapped his fingers restlessly n the counter behind the register and waited and waited and _waited_ for Annabeth to come back.

It had been about four hours since she left, and she hadn't stopped by.

 _What if she didn't actually like him?_

 _What if, oh Gods, what if he offended her?_

 _What if she got hit by a car on the way out?_

"Percy?"

 _What if she got trapped in an elevator?_

"Percy!"

 _What if-_

"Percy, snap OUT OF IT!"

Percy looked up startled, and subsequently fell off of his stool. Jason snickered, but hauled dazed Percy up. "Look, she's been gone for what, two hours-"

"Four, four hours. _Get it straight Jason!"_ Percy broke in, dramatically flopping over the counter.

Why couldn't Jason understand?

* * *

Annabeth looked down at her watch. Was it socially acceptable to go to a coffee lounge not once, but _twice_ in one day? _Yes? No? What do I do, I can't just-_

And that was when the idea came to her.

Annabeth knew what she had to do.

She reached for her purse, which was hanging on the back of her chair, and searched for the thumb drive where she saved literally _every_ paper and _every_ project in _every_ college class. This was risky, but it was a risk she was willing to take.

Piper was emptying the trash can in the dumpster behind the shop. It wasn't her favorite thing to do, but Percy was having a meltdown, Jason was trying to calm him down, and Hazel was restocking the pastry bar. Piper set the can down and opened the lid to the blue dumpster, when she heard a small cough.

"Excuse me," the blond, Annabeth, from earlier smiled and said "Hi. Yeah-uh-I came into the coffee shop earlier today and I met, that is to say, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but I really want to see Percy again?" Annabeth made it sound like a question.

Piper bit the inside of her cheek. A grin squirmed onto her face. "What do you need me to do?"

* * *

Percy dragged his finger through the puddle of water on the back counter. His masterpiece, a smiley face which in reality bore no resemblance to Annabeth at all, stared back at him. He sighed and looked up at the collection of syrups on the wall facing the customers. His favorite was the blueberry, but the blue raspberry was good too, and he supposed the blackberry was alright.

The bell on the front door jingled, but Percy didn't bother to look up. The last eighty-seven times the door opened it wasn't _her_. So when he heard Annabeth's voice floating over the noise of the acoustic playlist, his pulse quickened. His eyes widened and he turned around.

"Can someone help me? I left something pretty important, a flash drive, behind somewhere, and I think it might have slipped out here." Annabeth asked, running her hand through her hair. Percy was about to speak up when Piper walked up to the front counter, "Hey, that sucks. Sorry, we haven't had any of those turned in today."

"Oh right, thanks anyways, I'll just…"

"No wait!" Percy practically screamed. Annabeth jumped and noticed him for the first time. "I-I mean let's look by the chaise you were sitting at before you give up?"

A strange look flickered across Annabeth's face. Smug? But as soon as Percy saw it, it was gone and replaced with one of gratitude. "Okay, thanks Percy."

Walking over to the chaise, Percy bent down and started sifting through the pillows and cushions.

* * *

Piper chortled, a strangely awkward noise for someone so…non-awkward. Jason smiled at his girlfriend's antics, and went back to washing the mugs in the back. Of course, he knew the whole story. Piper was presented an opportunity to play matchmaker without being obvious, and naturally, she took it. And he had to admit, Annabeth's plan wasn't half bad. It certainly wasn't the best he had ever heard, but she sounded just as desperate to see Percy as Percy was to see her. In Jason's opinion that would make _anyone's_ master plan seem a bit childish.

He turned off the water and dried off her hands, when he heard Percy's voice float through the backroom, "I'm glad we found that-hey, how about I make you your latté, on the house."

Jason, still facing the sink and dishwasher, raised one eyebrow.

He heard a muffled reply, and Percy's laugh. "Your last one was a goner, so we'll just call it even," Percy chuckled, and closed the door.

"Oh Jason, the Gods are smiling down on me today! Can you believe it? What are the odds that she would forget something?"

"Do you want to use _the mug_?"

"Oh yes, this is the perfect time to use t _he mug_."

Jason walked over to the mug cabinet, and pulled out a tall, blue ceramic mug. It was nearly identical to the golden one, which was sitting right next to it.

These mugs were legendary.

 _These mugs_ were the mugs that Piper, Hazel, and Reyna made fun off.

It all started three months ago…

Percy and Jason were hopeless romantics, and for Percy's birthday, before Jason and Piper were together, Jason took him to the local pottery shop. They coated the mugs in paint like normal people, however at the bottom, the two painted their numbers in their respective mugs.

That being said, after the mugs were glazed, they weren't ever used.

Partially because Percy was too scared.

Partially because four days later, Piper asked Jason out. There was no need for Jason to use the mug, however it stood there in its sacred place next to Percy's for moral support.

But the biggest reason was because Percy never found someone to give the mug to. He couldn't exactly reuse the mug, be he knew that Annabeth was the one. Humming a funny little tune, Percy made the latté, and filled up the mug. Grabbing a sticky note, Percy scribbled in his messy yet charming scrawl. He couldn't wait to see her face.

* * *

Annabeth smiled nervously as Percy walked over, drink in hand. She was about to say something, when he left with a grin after placing the mug down on the table.

She looked at it, and her eyes caught on a little yellow note.

 _Keep the mug ;)_

* * *

 ** _And that's a wrap! Thank you to all of my lovely readers, and I do hope you'll consider reading my other story, as well as reviewing this one?_**

 ** _Until next time :)_**

 ** _Except a lot of people use that as their closing catch phrase so..._**

 ** _How about..._**

 ** _I hope your day's better than mine!_**


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